Saturday, January 27, 2007
THURSDAY 25 JAN 07-- DEEP HAZE AND NICE BREEZE- GGB AND SUNDOWN
Bob from Kentfield joined us again for an afternoon sail, and Gracie from Palo Alto joined us for the first time. There was virtuatlly no breeze and the city and bay were locked in deep haze as we left port about 2 pm and put out full canvas and headed out into the central bay.
With no breeze, we were at the mercy of the flood current and were gradually pushed eastward along the cityfront, passing pier 35, then pier 33, then pier 31.
The financial district of the city was locked in deep haze.
Our pleas to Mother Nature for some breeze began to be aswered with a light breeze that enabled us to tack onto starboard tack and begin to stem the tide and gradually make some progress westward, back toward pier 35 where a cruise ship was tied up.
Happily the breeze continued to freshen out of the west and we were sailing toward the cruise ship and then tacked onto port tack to sail toward the lee side of Alcatraz, enjoying some great sailing, and passing Alcatraz which was also locked in haze.
Angel Island, not visible from the cityfront, now appeared ghostly in the thick haze.
We had a bit of company out there as a sailboat headed toward the east passed in front of us...
... and an Ericson sailboat approached from port....
...and passed astern.
We continued sailing on and, with a shift in the breeze to the southwest, we sailed westward, past Harding Rock, and approached Yellow Bluff where we had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge locked in haze.
Approaching Yellow Bluff, we tacked and began sailing down the shore of the headlands, and across the gate with the flood current pushing us away from the gate, and enjoying the views of the city locked in hazy sunshine.
A fishing trawler named SHELLFISH, steaming in from the gate, passed astern of us.
Approaching the shore of the city near Crissy Field beach, we tacked toward the gate,
and enjoyed views of the GGB also locked in haze.
The south tower of the GGB blocked the hazy sun and created this dramatic shot.
With good breeze we were making good headway toward the gate on port tack close reach, but with the flood current pushing us northward toward the north tower that now framed that little tree clump on the Marin Headlands.
Bob was at the helm as we approached the gate....
....and sailed out just inside the north tower.
We just sailed out a short ways and then came about and headed back inside on starboard tack broad reach, with flood current assist, eventually gybing to the north toward Belvedere, and encountering a sailboat sailing across the mouth of Richardson Bay and still dangling its fenders.
A Coast Guard vessel was steaming past the west side of Angel Island, larger than the motor life boats that we often see on the bay and smaller than the cutters that we see on the bay from time to time.
In the lighter breeze approaching Belvedere, we gybed to the east to await the sundown and watched the cruise ship from pier 35 steaming out the gate as sundown neared.
We sailed along the southern shore of Angel Island, its features rendered into soft focus by the haze.
The sun began to go down into some clouds in the west, so we came about to sail to the west for a while to position ourselves to watch the sundown through the gate.
It appeared that the cloud layer above the horizon would obscure the sundown, so we tacked again and headed for home port, and then saw that the clouds were too thin to obscure the setting sun and, in this shot, it was blasting through the top of the north tower of the GGB.
As we sailed across the bay on close reach starboard tack with a good breeze, we watched this following progression of the sundown.
The city was still locked in haze at dusk as we approached...
.... and sailed past pier 39 where the flags were still fluttering nicely in the westerly breeze.
We sailed past pier 39, pulling in the jib as we did, and then sailed into the lee of pier 35 to douse the main and get ready to dock.
Bob from Kentfield joined us again for an afternoon sail, and Gracie from Palo Alto joined us for the first time. There was virtuatlly no breeze and the city and bay were locked in deep haze as we left port about 2 pm and put out full canvas and headed out into the central bay.
With no breeze, we were at the mercy of the flood current and were gradually pushed eastward along the cityfront, passing pier 35, then pier 33, then pier 31.
The financial district of the city was locked in deep haze.
Our pleas to Mother Nature for some breeze began to be aswered with a light breeze that enabled us to tack onto starboard tack and begin to stem the tide and gradually make some progress westward, back toward pier 35 where a cruise ship was tied up.
Happily the breeze continued to freshen out of the west and we were sailing toward the cruise ship and then tacked onto port tack to sail toward the lee side of Alcatraz, enjoying some great sailing, and passing Alcatraz which was also locked in haze.
Angel Island, not visible from the cityfront, now appeared ghostly in the thick haze.
We had a bit of company out there as a sailboat headed toward the east passed in front of us...
... and an Ericson sailboat approached from port....
...and passed astern.
We continued sailing on and, with a shift in the breeze to the southwest, we sailed westward, past Harding Rock, and approached Yellow Bluff where we had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge locked in haze.
Approaching Yellow Bluff, we tacked and began sailing down the shore of the headlands, and across the gate with the flood current pushing us away from the gate, and enjoying the views of the city locked in hazy sunshine.
A fishing trawler named SHELLFISH, steaming in from the gate, passed astern of us.
Approaching the shore of the city near Crissy Field beach, we tacked toward the gate,
and enjoyed views of the GGB also locked in haze.
The south tower of the GGB blocked the hazy sun and created this dramatic shot.
With good breeze we were making good headway toward the gate on port tack close reach, but with the flood current pushing us northward toward the north tower that now framed that little tree clump on the Marin Headlands.
Bob was at the helm as we approached the gate....
....and sailed out just inside the north tower.
We just sailed out a short ways and then came about and headed back inside on starboard tack broad reach, with flood current assist, eventually gybing to the north toward Belvedere, and encountering a sailboat sailing across the mouth of Richardson Bay and still dangling its fenders.
A Coast Guard vessel was steaming past the west side of Angel Island, larger than the motor life boats that we often see on the bay and smaller than the cutters that we see on the bay from time to time.
In the lighter breeze approaching Belvedere, we gybed to the east to await the sundown and watched the cruise ship from pier 35 steaming out the gate as sundown neared.
We sailed along the southern shore of Angel Island, its features rendered into soft focus by the haze.
The sun began to go down into some clouds in the west, so we came about to sail to the west for a while to position ourselves to watch the sundown through the gate.
It appeared that the cloud layer above the horizon would obscure the sundown, so we tacked again and headed for home port, and then saw that the clouds were too thin to obscure the setting sun and, in this shot, it was blasting through the top of the north tower of the GGB.
As we sailed across the bay on close reach starboard tack with a good breeze, we watched this following progression of the sundown.
The city was still locked in haze at dusk as we approached...
.... and sailed past pier 39 where the flags were still fluttering nicely in the westerly breeze.
We sailed past pier 39, pulling in the jib as we did, and then sailed into the lee of pier 35 to douse the main and get ready to dock.
# posted by charlie bergstedt @ 2:53 PM 
